forum so, heed the stars, their light will leave us in the dark. // small group, 2/2 // CLOSED, stalkers welcome

Started Jan 08 by @the-void-phantasmic language

tune

Sol: Sure
Sol: see you then smiley face

It was still pretty early in the morning….What to do, what to do…… Sol looks around the place, and spontaneously starts picking up his room, and cleaning the kitchen. Sometimes when they're bored, Sol just cleans so he has something to do that's both productive, and that gets him moving. Keeps his hands busy, and usually keeps his mind off things. Plus, once the job is done, it is a happy feeling to see such a clean home. Helps to pass the time as well! So he cleans house until the time comes to head to Juno's place.

(I'm now wondering why Sol has no actual hobbies gosh)

Apollos kept looking at the screen. There was an old familiar voice in his that kept saying, you don’t need them. The connection you had was worthless and it’s even more so now. He hated that voice, but it made him who he was. Apollos, the emotionless machine driven by logic. He always had to argue with his own thoughts. Even if it was worthless, I didn’t see it like that.

But do you now?

It didn’t matter now.

Apollos: I’ll see you two at 12:00 pm, then.

Apollos checked the clock again. He had a couple hours before he had to leave for Juno’s house. What to do before then? His residence was already spotless, and he was sure of that. He always made sure to clean and put everything away after he was done using a specific room. He could continue to read, but that had been interrupted, and now his interest in the book was lost for today.

He stood up and snatched the book from the table, then placed it back in its spot on the shelf. He took a step back. The shelf was filled to the brim with books of various genres, lengths, and authors. Apollos hadn’t read them all, and he doubted he ever would. Half of them didn’t even intrigue him, but he wanted to fill space on the shelf with an equal amount of books from all the main genres. Plus, he knew that if someone ever came over—which is doubtful to happen, Apollos preferred to keep his privacy—they might have a different taste in books to read.

Apollos turned away from the bookshelf. If there was nothing he had to do inside, perhaps he could find something to do outside. He walked to the door, unlocked it, and stepped outside onto his front porch. He immediately took note of one of his neighbors tending to her garden, which divided her area of land from his. He watched her. She was a stout old lady, with a face weathered from years of hard work and long-greyed hair always tied in the same bun. She noticed he was there, and waved for him to come over and talk. Apollos tentatively walked over to her. He knew that entering conversation with her would definitely pass the time, albeit it wasn’t what he expected to be doing.

(I took creative liberties. Old grandma neighbor is canon. I would have written more but this needs to not be a novel-)

(Sorry guys apollos fucking killed me and I had to wait to respawn, devs gotta fix the wait time smh)

Juno stopped pacing as they stared at the texts, their heart now pounding. Well, there wasn’t any turning back now. They turned off their phone and tossed it on their bed, pacing and relaying the plan in their mind over and over again. Fine, fine, they would be fine, they knew what to do and when to do it, everything would be fine.

Juno was sitting on the kitchen counter again. It was noon already, so the other two should arrive any minute. They had their gun, and it was hidden. Well, hidden enough. Nobody would notice unless they were looking for it. Juno’s wings shook slightly, they’d have to get them to stop. They couldn’t be anxious, not if they wanted this to go well. They started taking deep breaths, thinking about literally anything else.

The weather was nice. It was probably warm outside. Juno liked the warmth, it was like a hug, almost. Juno hugged themselves almost subconsciously. Where had they gotten that hoodie again? It was comfortable. They didn’t remember, but that was okay. They just needed the one. Their wings went still as they went down their little rabbit trail, killing a bit more time in the process.

(Skill issue. Never try to hug a version of the Mind without warning, or asking)

The conversation Apollos held with his neighbor had long since ended, and he was already driving to Juno’s house. In fact, he was nearly there. Needless to say, any bit of optimism Apollos had about the meetup had slowly deteriorated the closer he got to their house. He didn’t want to be here, and he was quickly realizing that.

He shook his head and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He took a deep breath, and his grip loosened again. Nothing bad would happen. At the worst it would end like the worst of their arguments, with Sol having to intervene. At the best. . ? Was there a best? That would have to be determined. And determined very quickly, because Apollos was coming up on Juno’s house. He slowed down and parked on the side of the road nearby.

Apollos stayed in his car for about a minute before he finally opened the car door and stepped out. Juno likely heard the car door slamming shut from inside, and would be dreading the moment when Apollos knocked on the door. That’s what Apollos thought, and he was most likely correct. As he stepped to the front door, he hesitated once more right before he knocked. He was never this indecisive before, never this apprehensive. He had no reason for it. He shook his head.

Knock-knock-knock-knock

(Mentally ill (affectionate))

Juno flinched as they heard a car door slamming outside, quickly pulling them from their thoughts and back to the real world. They sighed. They would admit, they were hoping Sol would be the first to arrive. But this was fine too, they guessed. They hopped off of the counter and stretched out their wings and arms.

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

Juno walked over to the door, wringing their hands nervously. Their wings had started trembling at some point on the way there, which definitely wasn’t good. They hesitated for a bit longer than they’d like to admit, then finally opened the door. Juno greeted Apollos with a weak smile. Their nervousness was certainly not hidden, although a somewhat half-assed effort was made.

“Hi.”

Sol walks down the street on route to Juno's house. It was a nice day, mildly chilly, but not too much so. Made his long-sleeve perfect for the weather, which was always nice. As he rounds the corner, he sees Apollos car. Since Apollos always arrived on time, Sol must be slightly late. That happened when Sol decided to take his time on the walk. Sometimes he did it on purpose, sometimes it was an accident.
He walks up to the door, where Apollos and Juno are staring at each other awkwardly at the doorway. So either Apollos just arrived, or they'd been having an extended staring contest. Honestly either was possible. Sol grins at the two calling out, "Hello palies! We've got nice weather today!" Okay, that was wayyy too upbeat. Lets try again. Sol coughs into his hand and says, "I mean uh…Hi. How's it going? Who's winning?"

“Afternoon, Juno.”

Good, his voice didn’t allude that anything was wrong with him. Because Apollos could tell undoubtedly that his own behavior was aberrant from what it should have been. He’d just have to push it to the side, like he always did.

Apollos and Juno did in fact stare at each other for a second awkwardly, before Sol came up behind Apollos. When he spoke, Apollos’s right ear moved back involuntarily to locate Sol. He turned his head to look back at Sol.

“Hello, Sol. . . winning? I wouldn’t say that’s the appropriate term. I just got here myself.” Apollos tilted his head. Perhaps he thought he and Juno were in a staring contest of sorts. That didn’t make very much sense—if Apollos wanted, he didn’t even have to blink. Of course he still did it though, out of reflex.

(Whoops this is way too short compared to my last response-)

Juno blinked and looked at Sol, then waved. “Hi, Sol.” Their smile grew a touch more genuine, as they stepped out of the doorway and held the door open for the other two. Their gaze fell on Apollos again. Maybe this was a bad idea. They cleared their throat awkwardly for an excuse to look away as their stress grew more evident. They were in too deep, no second-guessing.

For some reason, Juno felt guilty, even though they hadn’t done anything yet. Plus, they hated Apollos, shouldn’t they be feeling less upset? They started biting their nails subconsciously, zoning out for a second before they remembered that Sol and Apollos were there. They quickly snapped out of their trance and shut the door once the others were inside.

(screams in short)

Heya." Sol says, then walks through the door as Juno opens it. "So what did you want to meet up for? Or did you just want to hang out?" Sol sits down on the couch(if Juno has a couch) enjoying the feeling of sitting down after a long walk. He relaxes, looking at Juno, waiting for their response. Sol felt a little more optimistic after his walk, his worries having retreated farther into their subconscious.

Apollos waited for Sol to enter first. He then stepped inside, just in time for Juno to shut the door behind him. Maybe the saying should go, “don’t let the door hit you on the way in,” he thought as he side-eyed Juno for a moment. He sighed and followed Sol into the living room, and sat on the opposite side of the couch to give Sol a fair amount of space.

Apollos was wondering the same thing as Sol—why were they here? Juno rarely ever invited either of them to their house. Especially not Apollos, as of late. The last time he was here he commented on the fact that they must not have cleaned the place much. Needless to say, they didn’t appreciate it. They didn’t keep it in mind either, because it seemed to Apollos that Juno didn’t clean before inviting the two of them over.

(Whoops it’s short and it’s mostly Judgement)

Juno’s wings fluffed up almost involuntary as they watched Apollos, and they fought the urge to react any further. They shook out their wings and took a small breath, then followed Sol and Apollos, opting to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch.

They looked around nervously when they sat down, fidgeting with their sleeves. “Uh. . . sorry, it’s a little messy in here,” they said quietly. Juno looked up at Sol as he spoke, then shrugged. “I just. . . wanted to hang out. It’s been a while since the three of us. . . uh, yeah.” They seemed to stumble over their words quite a bit, avoiding eye contact with both Sol and Apollos, but mainly Apollos.

(Oops this is even shorter)

“A little?” Apollos grumbled to himself as his gaze drifted, just loud enough to be heard by Sol and Juno. An itch in the back of his mind made him want to fix nearly everything in this house. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. It didn’t help much. He vowed to not focus on the various distractions, and once again looked at Juno. Of course, they avoided looking at him.

Strangely enough, they were also avoiding Sol’s gaze, which was out of character for them. Sol was the favorite, wasn’t he? Juno rarely started a debate with him, let alone have it get physical.

Perhaps something was off here. Juno was acting weirder than usual. He gave a questioning look to Sol, to see if he knew anything about this beforehand. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he never knew with Juno. His foot started tapping. Ugh. He already wanted to leave.

Sol sees Apollos looking at him. He meets the gaze. Apollos seemed a little nervous, probably sharing Sol's earlier worries about the abnormal way Juno had started this. Also, Juno seemed extremely unsure about why she wanted them here. Secondly, 'the three of us'? Sol had been trying to get the three of them to be in the same room, but they always ended up in a catfiight, if Juno really wanted the three of them to hangout so much, then why didn't she try to fix this conflict, like, ever!? Sol sighs and bites his lip, gnawing down those misgivings.
Sol turns to Apollos, and shurgs noncommitally. He had no clue, but it doesn't matter. Nothing was going to happen that was worse then what had came beforehand.

Juno glanced up at Apollos and narrowed their eyes. They wanted to say something, they really wanted to, but instead, they just huffed quietly and went back to looking at literally anything else. It wasn’t Juno’s fault they forgot, they had a lot on their mind. Okay, maybe that was their fault, but still. They couldn’t help but be forgetful when they were stressed out.

The silence was nearly unbearable for Juno. They started humming quietly, hoping Sol might try to strike up a conversation to ease the tension. Why did they think this was a good idea again? They probably wouldn’t even have the chance to follow through with their plan. They started to look increasingly more tense and spaced-out as their train of thought continued.